Category Archives: Church Sketches

This was my view Sunday morning as Peter Aitkens delivered the sermon. Peter’s an artist/painter and so narrated the story of Jesus appearing (post resurrection) to some of his disciples (Luke 24:13-35) through a series of fabulous drawings he did. They were displayed on the overhead as he walked us through the story. The originals were on the walls in another part of the church.

And I thought this might be of interest. A local church (Bay Area Fellowship) got a lot of press this week for their “Mega-Million Give-away”. I don’t know how much money they had tied up in prizes, as I see the numbers reported from 1-4 million. I did a lot of sketching at this church for a while, before they moved across town into their new facility (though I did sketch there their first Easter service). Sorry I can’t remember how to embed a video and don’t have the time at the moment to figure it out, so you can see a video about it here on YouTube. Let me know what you think, please. I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

Just some sketches from yesterday’s church service. I struggled this Sunday with feeling comfortable sketching with people around; feeling conspicuous. I did these while sitting in the far back. One positive thing is that I noticed that the sketching was getting to be more habitual…or automated. Not sure what word to use for this, but what I’m saying is that, while I was listening to the sermon, it suddenly came to my mind, “Oh, yeah…I’m sketching right now.” Like driving a car. You don’t conscientiously think of how to drive the car, you just do it. Nice place to come to.

But is there anything else in early February in Montreal? It’s a big church to warm up. There are large vents on each side of the sanctuary that put out heat. People will congregate there to warm themselves before sitting down. I spent a good part of the service in front of one myself.

But when I wasn’t in front of a heating vent, I was sitting behind Tall Ted. Someone in front of you can take up a lot of the view. In this case, the rector is minuscule in comparison. As for the rabbits, I sometimes switch to them if we’re at prayer time. At least that morning I did. It felt too intimate a moment to watch and sketch. Bunnies substitute in for people, etc.

I had a very nice break this holiday season–time away from the computer/the studio/the art; Facebook and Twitter, etc. It was much needed, I tell ya. And now it’s time to get into gear and back to work. I’m looking forward to it.

And so I start this year of blogging with a sketch from yesterday’s church service. It’s been a while since I’ve had some church sketches to offer up and I was happy to have had a little time to eek this one out during the sermon. It was a cold and very snowy day yesterday here in Montreal making it a challenge to get to and from destinations, but we did it. It was all worth it to see people I hadn’t seen in a long while.

It’s been a while since I’ve done any church sketches, but I had the opportunity to do so this weekend when I visited Christ Point in Corpus Christi, TX. Several of my good friends go here so when I’m in town, this is one of the churches I visit. The above is a mix of a sketch in the sanctuary and some while sitting in the coffee area.

(Just curious…Is that phrase redundant? Are there any “old” beginnings? Same-o same-o starts?) Anyway, these are sketches from today’s church service at St. Stephens. It was an emotional service as many of the congregants are leaving to start a new church. Other people I know are leaving for other churches, and some are just leaving. I should probably title this post “Leavings”, but if I did, then the first part of this paragraph wouldn’t make sense. Sketches below.

Paul wasn’t feeling well so I went alone. What a dreary day in Montreal. Temperatures are back down into the 40’s (F)–Blah!– with overcast skies and and rain in all forms (mist, drizzle, sprinkling–but no downpours). And this morning, driving down town on the 20 was a hassle, given it was closed down at what around here is called The Turcot Yards. Montreal doesn’t always let you know where you can go if they divert you (and never in English) and I tend to get lost if I get off my usual route. Both to and fro, I DID get lost and found myself in unfamiliar areas, trying to find the familiar. It’s stressful if you have an appointed time to be somewhere. But on the way home, I finally chose to relax and enjoy checking out the neighborhood, as everything is now so green and springy.

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A Brief Thought On Sketching: I’ve missed sketching. Gotta get back into it more, really. I’ve been contemplating it lately and was thinking that, for me, it’s really not about how good I can sketch, or about improving my skills (I know I have a great deal of limitations and they’re in my face all the time), but it’s primarily about chronicling a life-experience, whether it be a salt shaker sitting on the table, or a fireworks display. It’s about drawing a snippet of my life (example here)–what I see or experience–and documenting it for the the mere pleasure of doing so. It’s also about trying to push it a little bit, with sampling new ways tools or colors; taking it above the ordinary. So why do I post them if I say it’s for me? Well, I do like it that other people seem to enjoy seeing and sharing what I draw (I love the feedback; it encourages me), my experience. I also know it motivates others to do the same (as I have been motivated by other sketchers who post). When I add a background story, it makes it somewhat of a journal that’s there for me to go back and read and re-enjoy the experience; especially the sunsets and scenery sketches. They are such magical moments that it’s precious to have spent a few minutes to capture them in a personal and unique medium.

Easter has come and gone and I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend, whatever you were doing. I had two church events to participate in this weekend–the Good Friday and the Easter morning services. I helped out at both, sitting behind the soundboard on Friday and then playing music (bass, percussion and vocals) on Sunday. It made for a busy weekend, with Paul and I also working on the boat as much as we could as well as spending time with friends and family. Fulfilling and fun all-around.

It’s been a good while since I posted any sketches I’ve done at church. Several reasons account for that, I guess, one being I’ve not done much sketching there in the last few months. Also, lack of time in general has been a big factor since September, when I took on a number of projects that have kept me very busyful.

Paul was doing sound this morning so I went in early with him to help. I’m glad I did as it afforded me an hour to simply sit and sketch. It was relaxing and had me wondering why I wasn’t doing this more often. Just for sanity’s sake, you know? That right-brain activity stuff can be calming.

I left the first two pages as-is. The third I opted to add some color to with the computer.

In other news, I suppose you can see that I’ve been fooling around with my blog here. I picked out a new WP theme which has more space for images, a menu bar, and a few other behind-the-scene tools. There seems to be a problem with activating the widget for my blog-roll but I’m working on that. I’m thinking I want to make this space my active portfolio for now so you will probably be seeing me working on that here as time goes on.

And I’ve noticed several of my illustrator friends have been posting their 2008 accomplishments, along with goals for ’09. I might do that here, too, when some time opens up. Really, it’s all about time right now. I’ve never been busier as an illustrator as I have been this year. As I mentioned, since September, it’s been almost non-stop. I’ve been having to fit in short vacations or the holidays, it seems. And I don’t see things slowing down until sometime in March. It’s all good, though. I’d much rather be overly-busy than not busy at all. : )

Since my husband was out of town this past weekend, and I had no commitments to my usual church, I visited a church in the area I’d never been to–Renaissance Church in Kirkland, Quebec. Kirkland is on the western end of the Island of Montreal, which is where we live so I was finally visiting a nearby church vs. trucking into down town Montreal for church (like most, I’m feeling gas-conscience). Renaissance’s roots are Southern Baptist so I thought that I would feel at home being I’m from the South Texas. The church presently meets in the Kirkland Colisee Movie Theater, so I was thinking that the meetings would be fairly large, another church where I could be anonymous and get lost in the crowd (perfect for sketching and observing). Not so. Counting children, there were probably no more than 30 people in attendance. Even with relatively few people, I wasn’t really noticed. The bass player on the worship team saw me sitting alone and came over to chat, but other than that, I had to do the approaching. Well, people were busy with children or adjusting sound or…just plain shy. I understand that. It didn’t bother me really, but I thought it was unusual. Below are pages from my sketchbook of drawings during the service. There’s a little sketch of Sammy’s head I did there. Of course, no dogs were in the service. I was just thinking of her.

So I say if someone sits down in front of me while I’m sketching, they’re fair game to make it into my sketch, yes? As was the case with a couple of kids (Teens? Young people?) who came in towards the end of the church service. Both the boy and girl were ‘exotic’ in their attire–the girl was sporting a green and black striped outfit, hair spiked with green and pink tints at the points. The boy had a bit of a doo, too, though understated compared to his gal-pal. Anyway, I welcomed them with an open pen.

Below: Random, random. left side is of my view, the right just people. Lower right is the late arrival boy with the doo.